


desire lives in the heart

by mydeerjoshua



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, I guess???, M/M, sandman au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-15 01:36:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9213485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mydeerjoshua/pseuds/mydeerjoshua
Summary: When Desires comes to visit, his door is always open.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is loosely based on Neil Gaiman's Sandman. Like, very loosely based since I haven't finished the comics and the dynamics are quite different from the original work. The Endless are not human and they refer to each other as siblings for convenience, no human blood relations involved. 
> 
> Enjoy.

 

 

He opens his eyes. For a human the act would be more precisely described as waking up, but for one to wake up one must have been asleep. Joshua wasn't asleep. Sleep means a suspension of consciousness when the body lies still, at rest. His consciousness never ceases to be active, his body – his illusion of a body, a mere image for the eyes of the non-understanding – never lies still. The expansion of his mind is as wide as the reaching of his domain, where every folding of reality causes a spasm somewhere along his corporeal figure. No, even at what humans denominate as rest, he isn't resting.

He does not breathe, but he sighs and feels a gentle tug somewhere at the corner of his mind, smoothing out the rough edges of a nightmare. Humans nowadays tend to have too many nightmares. Even with things under control he isn't particularly fond of nightmares wandering freely through his land. They are hard to retrieve if they happen to escape his grasp.

Everywhere else is in fluid shapeshifting, dreams becoming sand by the shore of human sleep. He hums and waves break and fold in distant lullabies, washing away reality from their eyes. There's a soft chime every time a human enters his domain, like castaways reaching land. He welcomes the sensation. It's the same as it always was, ever since the first human learned how to dream, and it brings a secure familiarity to him.

Until someone else arrives. He groans at the pressure of another Endless sharing the space of his consciousness. A visit from any of his brothers is something rare, given their own particular busy schedules. But he knows this force. The reckless, selfish whine of Desire echoes through his mind. He blinks and the scenario changes around him.

He's at a fantasy beach, somewhere in the limits of his domain where his power is unstable. The shapes around him are thin and fragile, but he knows Desire wouldn't meet him anywhere but at his own terms. Their wills clash with no winner but he knows his brother. He'll never stop trying.

“Hello, Dream”, is how the long haired figure greets him, all smiles and whispering provocations standing against ocean waves.

“Desire”, he conveys communication into words, weird as it feels to have to voice things in his own place. Then he remembers, this is not his domain. This is in between, a rupture where their intentions blend and confuse, and his brother takes full advantage of that. Joshua wonders why he gives in to his whims so easily.

“Does my presence bother you?”, Desire's tongue is silk slipping on smooth skin, is warm breath against his lips.

“You know your presence bothers anyone with good sense”, he answers with a collected expression.

“Is that why you don't visit me? I'm lonely, you know.”

Joshua huffs, or the sand around his feet does, a shivering throughout the endless beach. Desire smirks at him, ever mocking, ever seducing and inviting.

“I don't need to visit you when you come so easily at me.”

“True that”, Desire's sigh is a hot breeze against his neck, a caress down his shoulders, hands that grasp his fingers. Neither has moved from their spots, but bodies never meant barriers for them. Joshua feels lips burning below his ear just as he watches Desire speak, several meters away from him. “Doesn't mean I'm not waiting for you.”

“Shouldn't you be tending to your affairs?”

“I have all of them wrapped around my fingers, don't worry.”

And it's the way that Desire waves at him, open palm in a friendly gesture, that he feels the ghost of a touch down his spine. His weight shifts and the sand pooling around his feet seem to be pulling him down. He knows this trick.

“Quicksand?”, his eyebrows lift, unimpressed, “Really?”

“Oh dear brother of mine, you know me too well”, Desire shrugs, nonchalant, “But let's leave formalities aside, Joshua.”

Joshua flexes his fingers and his feet stop sinking. Desire pouts like he's just had his candy taken away.

“I thought you hated when I called you by that name, Jeonghan.”

“Maybe when Death says it but no, not with you. You're my favorite brother.”

_Liar_ , his mind heaves, voiceless, but he knows Jeonghan hears. He doesn't move, but Joshua feels the distinct caress of lips around his mind. That place doesn't have a specific position in a physical body but Jeonghan brings a finger to his own chest and presses down. Joshua grunts.

“What is that you came for exactly?”

“Nothing. Just missed you.”

A particular harsh wave washes Jeonghan's body away and he fumes in distress. Joshua knows he gave way to Jeonghan's will in a moment of distraction but he is quick to regain control. This place is, after all, where their powers meet. It's flexible and bending for both sides.

Jeonghan has always been bad at sharing though.

“What was that for?”, he whines, and the vibration of his voice is static against Joshua's skin. “You're always so mean to me.”

“I'm the kindest to you.”

And it's the truth, both of them know. Destiny is too introspective to mind Desire, Death is too distant for him to reach, Delirium is too chaotic for him to lure. Despair, Desire's twin brother, is just a continuum of himself so there's no fun poking him. Their older brother is missing. Dream is his last resort. Joshua knows this, and he also knows he could retreat to his palace and shut Jeonghan away. He could leave Desire knocking at his door for eternity, unanswered, unattended, yet...

“Yet here we are”, he says and sees Jeonghan curl his lips into a smile.

“Here we are”, Jeonghan echoes him and the sand at his toes turn warm, “But this place is too bothersome, don't you want to go somewhere else?”

Joshua closes his eyes when a pleasant dizziness invades him. He knows this trick too, can feel the effect of it from the tip of fingers to the extension of his body. Throughout his domain, honey dissolves nightmares into sand and the human minds sigh in unison into his consciousness. Long hair slides against his face and something touches his lips. When Joshua opens his eyes, Jeonghan is still standing away from him.

“Having sweet dreams, brother?”, he asks and Joshua knows it's enough.

“Every dream is a sweet one when you're around, aren't they?”, he chuckles, closes his fist and the soft melody in his mind ceases. Nightmares reemerge, abstract dreams flow. Jeonghan notices the moment their connection is severed and he snorts. “You've had enough fun, go back to your domain. Pretty soon they're waking up and it's your task to attend to improper wishes my dreams have caused.”

“I'll come back, though. You know humans enjoy a little touch of desire in their dreams.”

“They do”, Joshua grants, “But they wake up and their dreams stay here. Only desire follows the next morning.”

“And desire will follow them back to their dreams.”

Jeonghan presses a hand over his heart, mouths something Joshua can barely grasp before he is stumbling backwards from a sudden constriction in his chest. The victorious smile on Jeonghan's face is the last thing Joshua sees before a door is shut and he is back at his throne in his palace.

He fumbles around his chest, a foolish act, he knows. No breath, no heartbeat should inhabit him, but Jeonghan has always had a way inside. The tiny spasm under his palm is too similar to Desire's laughter vibrating in his mind. The illusory heart vanishes under his power, but traces of Jeonghan linger in a dangerous whisper.

“ _Desire lives in the heart.”_

 


End file.
